


You (Call Me)

by therevengeoftheoctopus



Series: What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar? [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Eren's an actor, Levi's really smooth, M/M, Multi, idk what other tags to use, kind of, levi's a classic rock fan, politician!levi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-03
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-14 11:36:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1265035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therevengeoftheoctopus/pseuds/therevengeoftheoctopus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finally the age-old question is answered. What would you do for a Klondike bar?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a dweeb. These characters are dweebs. I'm sorry. My first time writing Ereri, so don't kill me.

People were annoying. If Eren had gained anything from standing out here for two hours trying to interview them, it was that.  
It was his first time working for Klondike®. If he had known they were so serious about their ice cream, he wouldn’t have accepted the job. Actually, scratch that, he probably would have taken it anyways.  
He was 25 years old, and he really needed money. Hopefully if he did well this time, Klondike® would hire him again. They paid their commercial actors a pretty penny. Eren’s eyes had bugged out when he’d been handed the advance payment, with promises of more. (Hint: It was a lot more than the twenty dollars he made being an extra in that Hollywood blockbuster last year).  
The cameraman, Marco, adjusted the headphones hanging around his neck. They’d been standing out here, in the sweltering sun of summer, for a long time. And in that time, they’d only gotten two clips they’d deemed usable.  
Connie leaned against the building, sighing. “If we don’t get something good today, the highers up are totally going to kick our asses.” Marco nodded in agreement with the sound guy.  
“Yeah, everybody here has been in a rush to go to their jobs.”  
“At least, that’s what they say,” Eren muttered darkly.  
A man passed into their line of sight. Marco straightened up, his eyes widening. “Holy shit in a motherfucking biscuit, he is hot.” Then he blushed, looking hurriedly away from the man. Then he seemed to decide ‘fuck it’, and turned towards Eren. “Eren, you need to go talk to him. Get his number for me or something,” he hissed. He made a shooing motion with his hand. “Come on, we’ll be rolling so we can actually get some good material.”  
Connie snickere. “Yeah, like, ‘You’ll totally get laid if you endorse Klondike®!”  
Eren rolled his eyes and walked towards the stranger. He made sure Connie had the boom properly positioned and that Marco was filming before he talked. He glued a smile on his face. “Hey! So I have a very serious question for you: What would you do for a Klondike bar?” Hey, he hadn’t written the script. If this job wasn’t so high paying, he never would have allowed such embarrassing words to come out of his mouth.  
The man stared at him. “Your mother,” he said bluntly.  
Eren gasped, staring at him. “Kirschtein!” he hissed, his eyes narrowing. He hadn’t recognized the asshole with his new haircut. As much as he hated Jean, he had to concede that he looked less like a dweeb now that he had an undercut. Still, it was a shock that Marco of all people, who was practically an angel on Earth, could be attracted to Jean Kirschtein, certified bastard and enemy of the human race.  
Jean looked disgusted. “Ugh. Haven’t seen you since graduating. I was hoping for it to stay that way.”  
“Yeah, you’re not the only one.” Eren glared at his mortal enemy.  
Marco stepped between them, trying to make peace. “Come on, guys. Aren’t we a little too old to be acting so juvenile?”  
Jean snorted. “Eren’s the one acting like a kid.”  
“Am not!”  
Marco sighed. “I’m sorry. What’s your name?” he asked, turning to Jean.  
“Jean Kirschtein,” he muttered, cowed.  
“Well, Jean,” Jean blushed when Marco said his name, “We’re working. So as much as I would like to get your number, my professionalism prevents me from doing that. Please leave.” He smiled politely at him. “Bye!”  
Jean just stared at him, spluttering. “Sorry,” he muttered eventually. He walked away, his head hung low.  
Eren grinned at Marco. “You showed him, that bastard!”  
Marco, however, was just looking wistfully at Jean’s retreating back. “He’s so freaking cute,” he murmured, a small smile creeping onto his face.  
Eren stared at him incredulously. “What?! How can you- what- how can you have a crush on Jean Kirschtein?!”  
Marco shrugged. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter. Let’s get back to work, shall we?”  
They began asking people. Eren even began flirting to try and get people to talk.  
He had smooth-talked his way into getting five people (of both genders) to talk to him within the last hour. Marco shouldered his camera.  
“Well, I think we’ve got enough for today. I’ll go back to the studio and have Sasha start editing what we got.”  
“Wait,” Eren said, putting up a hand to stop him. “You got to talk to your hot guy. I need to find mine.”  
Marco just sighed at his childish antics. Connie sniggered.  
Eren tried to point discreetly at the short man with the black hair in an undercut. “Him,” he whispered.  
Connie raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t he a little… short? He looks like a grumpy dwarf.”  
Eren shrugged. “Whatever. He’s hot. Besides, height differences are cute.”  
He started to walk towards the man. The stranger seemed to sense the approach of the actor, and he turned to look at him. Damn. His eyes were so… amazing. They were a perfect shade of grey, one that made Eren want to pick up a paintbrush for the first time in his life just to try and capture it.  
“H-hey,” he stuttered. The man raised an eyebrow. “What would you do for a Klondike bar?” He tried to make his voice sound more assured than he was.  
“You,” the man answered bluntly. Eren choked, spluttering and coughing. The man pushed a piece of paper into Eren’s hand.  
Call me  
551-209-9957  
-Levi  
By the time Eren had recovered, the mysterious man was gone. No, Eren mentally corrected. Levi.  
Marco was staring at him. “That was insane,” he finally voiced. “You should call him, Eren. Seriously.”  
“To be honest, I didn’t expect that to happen. I mean- I’ve seen him before. Sometimes he comes to the coffee shop my sister works at, so like. I didn’t just see him today. But like- oh my God. That was…”  
“Insane,” Connie finished. They all just stood there, shell shocked.  
“All right,” Marco said finally. “Let’s pack up.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi makes a stupid bet with Hanji. He should have known better than to trust her with personal information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the beginning of this chapter happens before the first chapter. Sorry if that's confusing. Anyways, this is really fun to write. My tumblr is oscar-oflahertie-wills-wilde, and I'll be tracking the tag fic: you (call me)

Getting drunk with Hanji had never been a good idea.

Bar hopping had never been one of Levi’s favorite past times. Bars were gross and dirty and covered with germs. But they had some pretty decent booze to make up for that, so he’d gone. Also, Hanji was paying, so there was that. 

First they’d gone to Hanji’s favorite bar. It was this weird place that served drinks like ‘The Titan’. Not that he’d expected anything but a weird bar from Hanji. 

After a couple of drinks, they’d gone on to a bar of Levi’s choosing. He would be the first to admit that it was also a pretty weird-ass place. They always placed some sort of techno music in another language, and there were always college kids there. Ugh. But the drinks were fantastic. 

They had a few more drinks, loosening up. Their words began to slur. 

“Hey Hanji,” Levi said. “I’m drunk as fuck. Let’s go back to my apartment.”

Hanji giggled. 

Neither of them were lightweights, but after that even the most hardcore drinker would be inebriated. 

They stumbled outside.

They stood on the corner outside of the bar, shivering in the cold winter air. Neither of them had bothered to bring a jacket, which on reflection had been fucking stupid. But who wanted to carry their jacket around as they were drinking and shit? Yeah, not Levi. 

Hanji wandered out partway onto the street, swinging her arm to call a cab. A cab pulled up soon enough, and they clambered in. 

“Four hundred Barker Street!” Hanji yelled from the front. Whenever they got drunk together they would always go back to Levi’s house. There they would drink some of the whiskey he kept in his cabinets (because who wanted to not have a gigantic hangover in the morning?) before crashing. Hanji had slept on Levi’s couch so many times that it had even started to smell like her. (Chemicals and wet fur. Not the greatest scent.) 

That was usually when they had their sappy as fuck heart to hearts. It was like a fucking sleepover party. Not that he had been to many of those (he was pretty introverted as a kid), but that was what Hanji had told him they were like. Except they hadn’t gotten drunk off their asses at the sleepovers Hanji had been to. Although, who knew. Hanji had been there. 

“So,” Hanji drawled as they entered Levi’s apartment. She crashed onto the couch next to Levi, throwing her legs onto his lap. He scowled at the weight. “Any special someone’s?” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh, fuck off,” he grumbled. His heart wasn’t in it, though, which of course Hanji picked up on. 

“So there is someone!” she yelled. “Teeeell me. Pleeeease.” She made puppy dog eyes. 

“I can’t believe I’m friends with you.”

Hanji snickered. “Come on, you know you love me.”

“Fuck you.” He stared off into space before sighing. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

Hanji squealed and pumped her fist. “Yes!”

Levi sighed again. “Okay, so, I don’t know his name. But I’ve seen him at that coffee shop, you know that one I always go to? Anyways, so he’s always there. All the times I’ve seen him he’s been talking to this one barista, Mik-something? Anyways, so I dunno if they’re just friends or what but I hope she’s not his girlfriend. Cause that would suck. But he’s really cute and shit, and like, I need his number. Bad.” Oh yes, the alcohol was definitely talking now. Now way in hell would Levi ever call someone cute. Nope. Definitely not.

“Then why don’t you ask him?” Hanji pressed. 

Levi just scowled.

“You get twenty bucks if you ask him out the next time you see him,” she sang.

Levi’s scowl deepened. “Fine,” he growled. “But only cause he has gorgeous eyes.”

 

And that was how Levi ended up giving his phone number to a guy whose name he didn’t know. (His blush had been adorable as Levi had made the innuendo. Wait. No. Had he just called someone adorable?) 

He stared at the phone sitting next to him on the couch. It was one of those crappy old phones, not a new smart phone or anything like that. He didn’t give a fuck about upgrading to new technology. Hanji would bug him about it every fucking minute of the day (fucking scientists), but he didn’t see the point. It was just a waste of money, he figured. 

He had to forcibly tear his gaze away from the phone. No. He was not going to sit there gazing at it like some lovesick schoolgirl. He was Levi, for god’s sake. He wouldn’t stoop to this.  
He flipped on the TV, reclining back. He wrinkled his nose at the lingering smell of chemicals from their latest drunken escapade. He’d have to spray some Febreeze on it later. But he was too lazy to move right now. 

A rerun of Supernatural was on. Levi would never admit it, but that was one of his favorite shows. Hanji teased him endlessly about the (tiny!) crush he had on the actor who played Dean. He could never remember his name, though. Misha something? No, that was the other guy. Ugh. Whatever. 

Someone possessed in this episode. For like, the thousandth time. Levi wasn’t completely caught up with the new season, but so far it wasn’t his favorite. Too many overused plotlines and possessions. But the actors were amazing, so there was that. Levi would stick with it, even if it wasn’t so great right now. He’d become way too invested in the characters. Not that he would ever admit that. 

The cell phone rang. Levi jumped. Holy fucking hell-. He paused the television and grabbed the phone. It wasn’t one of his contacts. Maybe it was The Boy. 

He almost snorted. He was like a middle schooler, obsessing over this person he hadn’t even met. He’d even capitalized it, like some pathetic teenager. 

“Hello?” he said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A phone call is made, and they both act like idiots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I deleted my other multichapter I was working on (on FF.net) for various reasons I won't go into here, so I've got more time to work on this. Hopefully chapter updates will be faster in the future. Please review!

Eren didn’t usually call strangers who gave him their number. He’d gotten the Stranger Danger talk from his mom enough times.

But sometimes he a pretty face would sway him, and he would pick up the phone and give the number a ring. Those usually ended after one or two dates and a good fuck. 

But with Levi he’d seen him before. He looked more threatening than most of the people Eren had dated, but now he had a (little! Eensy teensy tiny, barely there at all) crush. (Besides, he was short enough that Eren could probably hold his own if it got to that. Probably.)

After he’d helped Connie and Marco pack up their equipment he’d headed home. He hadn’t stopped by the coffee shop afterwards like he usually did. It would have been all kinds of awkward if he’d seen Levi. He blushed just thinking about it. 

He lay on his couch, flipping idly through the news channels. He cradled a bowl of potato chips in his lap.

He’d spaced out during the two murder cases and the weather, tuning back in only to catch the dates for the next election. 

“The election for politicians running for Congress is November 2. Don’t forget to vote!” God, the newscaster’s voice was a drone. Eren rolled his eyes at the amateur acting and switched off the TV. 

He’d never been able to stand bad acting. Even as a kid he’d whined if an actor didn’t portray a character right or went too quickly to extremes. His parents had plenty of embarrassing stories from when he’d been younger. (Eren couldn’t remember them, so he was taking their word for it). 

One time they’d dragged Mikasa and him to some Broadway show. You’d think on Broadway they wouldn’t have bad actors. Unfortunately, bad actors exist everywhere. He’d been extremely clumsy, and not in the endearing way or in an in character way. And then, of course, he’d start crying. Man, he wished his gaydar was that sensitive. That would have saved him from a lot of trouble. (Except for the crying part. He didn’t want to cry every time he sensed a gay person. That would have been embarrassing.)

He picked the phone out of his pocket, turning it over in his hands. To call or not to call? Who knew, maybe Levi was just one of those guys who gave out their phone numbers to everybody. Maybe his name wasn’t even Levi. Maybe Eren was being silly thinking Levi wanted to go out with him.

Eren shook his head, trying to dispel his doubts. He was being an idiot. Levi’s name definitely fit him. Besides, he’d only given his first name. It wasn’t like that was a big deal or something someone would make up a name for. Unless you were a wanted criminal or something like that. It would suck if Levi was a wanted criminal. (Although it did add a certain dashing aspect in Eren’s imagination).

And he didn’t think Levi would have made that innuendo if he didn’t want to pursue Eren. Unless he had a strange way of introducing himself to prospective friends.  
He dug the crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. He didn’t take good care of his worldly possessions, and it showed. It was wrinkled and folded all over from spending a prolonged time in Eren’s pocket. Blue jean lint clung to the creases.  
Levi seemed like someone who’d pay attention to cleanliness. His suit was always pressed and sharp. There was never any lint or dust on it, god forbid any actual dirt. Even his tie was always knotted perfectly. 

Maybe he should clean his apartment before he called. Maybe Levi had the ability to sense uncleanliness through the phone line. 

No. No. He was just procrastinating. He was making excuses. In the end, it just came down to one question: Did he want to call Levi?

The answer to that seemed pretty obvious. He blushed when he saw him in the coffee shop. When Levi had made that comment during the Klondike commercial Eren's mind had immediately gone straight to the gutter. He wanted to call Levi.  
He picked up the phone. (What if he was still at his work?) He punched in the first three numbers. (What if his phone was off?) He punched in the rest. (What if he just wanted to be friends?) He hit call. (What if he put his phone on speaker to make fun of him?) 

The phone rang. Brriing. Brriing. Eren began to get nervous. Well, he’d already been nervous before, but if this didn’t make it worse his last name wasn’t Jaeger. (Which it was. That wasn’t a debatable point.) 

Someone picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?” The voice had a sarcastic quality. Maybe he was a baritone? (From his time in musicals and his music classes in college he could recognize the different voice parts. It was a useful skill.) 

“Um. Levi, right? I mean, I’m assuming so, that’s what it said on the paper, but, shit, wait, what if it’s the wrong number? I mean, that is you, right? You’re the one that gave me the number? Phone number, I mean, not just a random number-“

“Woah, kid, slow down.” There was an amused quality to the man’s voice now, complementing the sarcastic edge. “Yeah, I’m Levi. The one who gave you the number.”

“Hey, I’m not a kid!” Eren said defensively. “I’m 25, damn it.”

“Still a kid in my book.”

“Wait, how old are you?” Mikasa would kill him if he ended up dating a man ten years older than him.

“Twenty eight, geez. You make it sound like I’m some geezer.”

Okay, twenty eight was good. Only three years older. “Ah, okay. That’s only a three year difference, whatever… Wait, do you know my name yet?”

“Uh… no, actually.”

“Okay, I’m Eren. Eren Jaeger. Nice to meet you, I guess?” 

“I’m Levi. Levi Rivaille. I think we've already established that.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did, idiot.”

“Rude. Anyways, why did you give me your phone number? Sorry if that sounds rude, I’m just curious.” 

There was a long pensive silence on the other end of the line. “I guess… I mean, I’d seen you before, at the coffee shop, you know? And you’re an attractive guy. I can admit that. Nice eyes. Anyways, well… Do you want to know the truth?”

“I guess?” Eren said, bracing himself for something offensive. 

“I accidentally started talking about you when I was drunk, and my friend gave me twenty dollars to ask you out.”

“WOW.” For a few moments, Eren was speechless. “Can I meet your friend?”

“Ugh. Why would you want to meet Hanji, of all people?”

Eren laughed. “So, is this like… are you gonna ask me on a date? Or am I going to have to? Ask you, I mean, why would I ask myself…”

There was a silence. Oh shit was I too forward did I make him uncomfortable oh shit oh shit oh shit. There was a deep sigh on the other end of the line. “Eren fucking Jaeger, will you go on a date with me?” Eren stared at the phone. Holy crap. Had Levi seriously just said that? “Oh my god, I sound like a high school girl. Holy shit. Just-yeah. Answer the question, dumbass.”

“I-yeah. I’ll go on a date with you. Where do you want to go?” 

“Maybe… Chipotle? The one near the park.”

“Okay. Burritos are good. 1 pm this Saturday?”

“Alright.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Call ended.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi's such a dork. Not that Eren is any better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, this fic is so freaking fun to write! Anyways, so I changed the date of the election from April whatever to November 2. Right now in the fic it's two weeks before. Also, I have a weakness for Levi being a classic rock fan. Also, did you guys see my new tags?

Eren was early. He was supposed to meet Levi at 1, but he was here thirty minutes early. His defense, if caught, was that he just wanted to take a walk in the park. That would have been a good defense, seeing as the park near the Chipotle was nice this time of year. The colorful leaves were so pretty. It was a nice temperature today, for almost being November. Walks always helped him settle his nerves. 

Eren had never been one to be early. Normally he got to things 5, 10 minutes late. His friends were used to that. But he wanted to impress Levi. 

He stood still in the middle of the path. The path was cobblestone, and it cut straight through the park. He could still see the Chipotle in the distance. Luckily Armin worked at the Chipotle on weekends (that boy was overworked, seriously). If Levi got there before Eren did the blond would text his friend. 

The park really was nice. On either side of him were tons of different trees. They were all different species, all different shapes. The evergreens were still showing their green needles. The deciduous ones were covered in different colored leaves. They all had one thing in common, though. They were huge. No wonder people called it the Forest of Giant Trees. It wasn’t a forest, but he was going to ignore that. 

His phone buzzed. He slid it out of his pocket and checked the message. It was from Armin: He’s here.

Even in texts Armin had perfect punctuation. Eren took a moment to smile at the thought of his friend before he put the phone back in his pocket and walked towards the Chipotle. Luckily he knew a shortcut to cut across the park that would only take a minute. 

Then he was at the Chipotle. He stood outside the door for a moment to collect himself. Don’t make a fool out of yourself, Eren. He straightened his shirt for the umpteenth time and walked in. 

Levi was standing in line. To reiterate, it was lunchtime on a Saturday. The line was long. Luckily no one had come in since Armin had texted him, so Levi was still last in line. 

Eren walked over and tapped Levi on the shoulder. “Hi!”

Levi spun around, relaxing when he saw who it was. “Oh. It’s you.”

There was an awkward silence. It was the first time they were talking to each other not on the phone, and that had been awkward enough. (The time with the Klondike® bar had not counted.) All Eren’s nervousness came rushing back in. What if now that he was seeing Eren up close he thought he was ugly? What if he’d only asked him out because Eren had kind of pressured him into it? What if-

“You look nice,” Levi said grudgingly. 

A grin lit up Eren’s face. “Thanks! You do too! I’ve only ever seen you in suits before….” Now that his anxiety was fading, Eren could better appreciate Levi’s choice of clothing. 

It was a much different ensemble than the suit and tie he usually wore. He wore dark red skinny jeans that perfectly hugged his ass. (Levi had a nice ass, okay. Anybody could appreciate that.) A faded black Rush T-shirt hung from his shoulders. 

“Although… Rush?” he teased, gesturing at the T-shirt.

Levi blushed. (He was so fucking cute, ohmygod.) “Shut up,” he muttered. “Their second album was great.” 

“I will choose free will,” Eren crooned. 

Levi shot him a death glare. Okay, he was pushing it now. 

He changed the subject. “Sooo… How come I’ve never seen you in anything but a suit?”

Levi shrugged. “When I go to the coffee shop I come from my work, which I need to wear a suit for. I don’t have time to change.”

“I accept your answer.”

Levi snorted. “Okay, now it’s my turn to ask a question. Why were you interviewing people on what they would do for a Klondike® bar?”

“Ah!” Eren exclaimed. “That’s for my newest job. I have a one-month contract with Klondike® as an actor in their commercials. For one of their ads I was supposed to ask people what they would do for a Klondike® bar, since that’s sort of the company tag line.”

“So, you’re what, an actor?”

Eren nodded. “Yeah, I got my diploma in acting from Trost Uni a few years ago, and ever since then I’ve been doing some small time acting. Nothing huge. I was an extra in a Hollywood extra two years back, but since then I haven’t had any huge breaks.”

“That’s cool.” Levi looked impressed. “It’s hard to break into those arts jobs. It’s awesome that you’re so determined to do what you love.”

Eren looked into space wistfully. “Yeah, I’ve always been passionate about acting…” He snapped back into reality. “So, what do you do?”

Levi shrugged. “I’m a politician.”

Eren’s eyes bugged. “Seriously? That is so cool. So like, I’ve always been fuzzy on this, but… What do politicians do?”

“Well, I’m running for the Congress. Senate really, but Senate’s a part of the Congress, so… I’ve been working on the campaign for that right now. But if I’m not running I’m usually teaching snot-nosed college kids about political science. They’re idiots, I’m telling you right now. Don’t be a political science major. You’ll be surrounded by idiots.”

Eren snorted. “I’ve already gone through college, so I don’t think there’s any danger of that happening.” A gleam lit in his eye. “But you’re running for Congress? That’s… that’s awesome.” He shook his head. “The election’s November 2, right?” 

Levi nodded. 

Someone cleared their throat. “Hello, sir? Can you please place your order?”

Eren spun around, grinning. They had gotten to the front of the line without they’re noticing. “Armin!”

Armin smiled. “Hey, Eren. You got my text, right?” He shot a meaningful look at Levi. 

“Yep.” He popped the ‘p’. 

Levi glanced back and forth between them, then shrugged. He cleared his throat. “I’ll have a carnitas burrito, please.”

Armin jumped. “Yes, sir!” Levi looked amused. 

Armin didn’t even have to ask what Eren wanted. They’d been to Chipotle so many times he had Eren’s order memorized.

He assembled the burritos quickly, ringing up their order. “That’ll be $15.” 

“I’ll pay,” Levi said. Eren made to refuse, but Levi shook his head. “Eren, I asked you out, I’m paying.” There was no way he was about to let a budding actor pay when Levi could do it with a much smaller impact on his bank account. 

Eren shrugged. “Whatever.” They grabbed their burritos. Levi pretended not to notice when Armin winked at Eren and mouthed ‘Good luck’. Although it was fun to observe how red Eren’s face got.

“Hey,” Eren ventured. “It’s nice out, do you want to eat in the park instead of in here?”

Levi thought about it. In the park it would no doubt be filthy, with children running rampant. But Eren looked so hopeful, and he didn’t want to just shut him down like that, so he made an exception. “Alright,” he allowed. “As long as we find a bench to sit at. I don’t like sitting on the ground.”

Eren nodded, and they walked outside.

* * *  
“Oh my God, I’m sooo full,” Eren moaned. He was laying across the bench, his feet in Levi’s lap. Luckily the brat had taken off his filthy shoes, otherwise there would have been a problem. His arm lay across his eyes.

“Then you shouldn’t have eaten the whole burrito, idiot.”

“But it was so tasty.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “There’s a thing called self-control. You need it.”

“Stop mocking my pain.”

Levi laughed. Eren moved his arm off of his face, staring at him incredulously. The brat couldn’t believe he had laughed. 

“You’re so stupid,” he gasped, still guffawing.

“Excuse me?” Eren said, cocking an eyebrow. 

“In a good way,” he elaborated.”

“I didn’t know you could be stupid in a good way.”

A squeal pierced the air. Eren flinched, sitting up abruptly. 

Hanji ran over, hugging Levi. 

“Holy shit, Hanji,” he said, leaning away from her. “How come wherever I go, I see you? Did your parents never tell you not to stalk people?” He struggled from under her arms. “And stop fucking touching me, for God’s sake.” He managed to get her off of him.

Eren looked alarmed. “Uh… hello?” he said uncertainly to the enthusiastic lady with the square-rimmed glasses. 

Hanji blinked at him. She turned to Levi, a grin spreading across her face. “Is this the reason you told Erwin and I not to bother you today, hmmm, Levi? Is he the guy from the coffee shop? I can’t believe you got him to go on a date with you!” She cackled. “Anyways.” She turned to Eren. “I’m Hanji. What’s your name? I’ve heard a lot about you from Levi!” 

“I’m Eren.” He extended a hand to shake, but she had already turned back to Levi.

“Oooh! He is cute! Wow, he must have nerves of steal to have not been scared away by your face.”

Levi shot her a death glare. It would have killed anybody else, but Hanji just maintained her crazy expression. “Fuck off, Hanji. I’m on a date.”

Eren blushed at that. It was one thing to know in his head that he was on a date with Levi, but to hear him say it out loud… That was another thing entirely. 

“You’re scaring him. Now shoo.” Levi made a motion with his hand to make her go away. He slung an arm around Eren’s shoulders. Eren unconsciously leaned in closer. 

Hanji sighed. “Alright, alright, I’m going.” She started to walk away before pausing and turning back around. “But you better tell me the details later!” She sprinted away before Levi could kill her.

Eren still looked frightened. Levi leaned in and pecked him on the cheek without thinking. Eren blushed and spluttered, trying to hide the goofy smile that was spreading across his face.  
Levi hid a smirk. Goddamn he would never admit this to anyone, but Eren was cute as fuck. 

Eren quickly leaned across and gave Levi a kiss on the cheek. It was chaste, but it was still enough to send a pink flush across the older man’s cheeks. 

Eren smirked at Levi’s reaction. “You were cute,” he defended. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Eren spoke again. “So who was your friend?”

Levi sighed. “The most annoying woman on the planet. She’s in charge of my PA in the campaign, but what possessed me to give her that position I have no idea. She’s the one who made the bet with me.”

Eren nodded. “She seems… energetic,” he said carefully. 

Levi exploded into laughter. “Yeah, she might be annoying as fuck and exhausting to boot, but she’s still one of my best friends. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”

Eren hid a smile. “I can’t imagine you as a kid. Did you have a scowl permanently on your face?”

“Oh, fuck off.”

Eren exploded into laughter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annoying friends are annoying. And overprotective sisters can get on his nerves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *jazz hands* Please review! I hope you enjoy, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Slight Reibert and Mikaanni, but not enough for me to actually tag it.

The date didn’t last long after Hanji left. Levi promised to call Eren over the weekend, and then he left. 

Eren remained on the bench for a few minutes after Levi had left, smiling to himself. Levi was much cuter than one would expect from his appearance. The date had been good. Really good. It had been nice to learn more about the man he had been pining over only a few days before. 

He stood up, stretching. He was supposed to pick Armin up after his shift ended, and that was in a couple minutes. He walked back towards the Chipotle.

Armin got ready, and then they walked towards the coffee shop where Mikasa worked. 

That was their usual routine. Eren would pick Armin up after work and then they would go to the coffee shop to hang out with Mikasa until her shift was over. Then they would walk back to their apartment building. 

Mikasa lived in a different apartment, but it was still part of the same building. She said that way she could keep an eye on them.

“Soooo,” Armin said. “How was your daaate?” He waggled his eyebrows. 

Eren pushed him, still smiling. “It was great.”

“Details, Eren! I need details!” 

“Well, we ate lunch at the park. One of his friends showed up half way through. She was really… high spirited. And then he kissed me on the cheek, and I kissed him on the cheek. That was pretty much it.”

Armin had stopped walking when Eren had mentioned the word ‘kissing’. “Wait, you guys kissed?” 

“It was just on the cheek!” Eren said defensively. “Geez, Armin, who kisses on the first date anyways?”

Armin shrugged. “I dunno.”

They stepped into the coffee shop. The warm scent of coffee beans and pastries assaulted their noses.

“Aaahh,” Armin sighed. “No matter how many times we go here I never seem to get over how freaking good it smells.”

Eren smiled a little at his friend’s reluctance to use the word ‘fuck’. Whenever Eren brought it up Armin would just argue that his grandfather had instilled it in him at a young age. Armin was the only person Eren knew who would use the word ‘instill’ in a normal conversation.

“Hey, Mikasa!” Eren yelled, waving to her. She looked up from the drink she was preparing to give him an acknowledging nod. 

He and Armin sat at their normal table near the counter. It was the perfect distance to talk to Mikasa. Her manager never let her talk to them while she was making a drink, but when business slowed down they could converse. 

“Hey, Sasha,” Armin greeted the brunette wiping down tables in the back.

She looked up from her cleaning. “Hey, Armin. Hey, Eren.” She walked over once she had finished clearing down the table. “How are you guys doing?”

“We’re doing good.” Armin smiled. “Eren just had a date.”

Sasha gave a mock gasp. “What? You mean someone found Eren Jaeger attractive? No way! We must tell Jean!"

Eren glared at her. “Shut up,” he grumbled. 

Sasha just laughed good-naturedly. “Seriously, though, Jean would have an aneurysm.”

Eren shook his head. “That horse-face is just too stupid to acknowledge my good looks.”

Armin laughed. 

“So, how was your date?” Sasha asked, leaning forward. “Who is this mystery man?”

“Um, his name is Levi Rivaille. He’s 28. He’s really cute.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sasha interrupted. “You mean Levi Rivaille, the guy who’s running for Congress? That Levi Rivaille?”

“Yep.” Eren popped the ‘p’.

“One of my friends is on his campaign team. I’ve only seen him a couple of times, but I don’t think ‘cute’ would be the word I’d use to describe him.”

Eren just shrugged. “He grows on you. And have you ever seen him laugh? So. Fucking. Adorable.” 

“Wow.” Sasha raised her eyebrows. “Sounds like someone’s head over heels.”

“Hey!” Eren said. “Anyone can acknowledge that someone’s cute. Besides, we’ve only been on one date. I don’t think that constitutes as being head over heels.”

“Who’s head over heels?” Mikasa had walked over after she’d finished serving the last customer. 

“Nobody!” Eren said, a little too quickly. 

“We were just talking about Eren’s daate.” Sasha drew out the vowels. 

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. “Eren was on a date?” 

“That was my reaction too!”

Eren sighed. “Thanks, Sasha. Yeah, I was on a date.”

“Do I know him?”

“I don’t think so. But he’s a regular here, so you’ve probably seen him before.”

“What does he look like?”

Eren paused to think. “Well, he’s short, but don’t tell him I said that. He’ll, quote unquote, rip off your dick.” Mikasa raised an eyebrow. “He’s got black hair in an undercut. Grey eyes. Caucasian.”

“Wait, is that the rude clean freak?” Mikasa said incredulously. “You’re dating him?”

Eren nodded. “That sounds like him. His name is Levi Rivaille.”

“The politician? You’re dating a rude clean freak who also happens to be a politician?”

Eren grimaced as Mikasa’s voice increased in volume. “Um, yeah. Stop freaking out, Mikasa. I don’t think that’s a bad thing…”

“Eren, how can that not be a bad thing? How old is he, anyways? Isn’t he like 35?”

“He’s 28! Besides, he grows on you. And how can you talk like that when you’re dating Annie? There are more than a few people who would consider her rude. Not necessarily a clean freak, but…”

“Hey, Annie’s abrasive. That’s a totally different thing,” Mikasa said defensively.

“Oh my god, Mikasa! You’re not in control of my life!” Eren threw up his hand, pausing when they collided with someone’s chest. He turned around. “Hey, Reiner.”

Reiner stood there impassively. He crossed his hands over his chest. “Bertl told me to tell you that you’re disrupting the customers. Eren can date whoever he wants, as long as he’s not a serial killer or something like that. Or bad for business,” he added. He shot a stern look at Mikasa. “Mikasa, Eren is an adult who can make his own decisions. I’m sure you would feel annoyed if he tried to tell you that dating Annie was bad for you. I would too, to be honest, but that’s not the point. Besides, Levi’s a customer here.” He cracked an easy smile. “If he’s a customer here he can’t be all that bad, can he?”

Mikasa sighed. “Okay, Reiner. I see your point. But Eren’s my brother, aren’t I allowed to worry about him?”

Reiner shook his head. “It’s perfectly normal to worry about the people you care for.” He looked towards Bertl, who was standing at the counter making lattes. “But you have to remember that they’re their own people to, and they should be allowed to use their own judgement to make decisions. Eren’s 25. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” Mikasa said grudgingly. She shot Eren a look. “But I expect to meet this guy.”

“Okay, okay!” He threw his hands up. “I was going to introduce you anyways.”

* * *

As soon as he was out of Eren’s sight, he let a smile grow across his face. Hanging out with that kid had been the most fun he’d had without alcohol since 1994. 

Someone flew out from behind a tree.

“Holy shit, Hanji!” he yelled, throwing a hand in front of himself instinctively. “Is stalking me just a recreational activity or is this an actual job for you?”

Hanji just laughed. “Don’t worry Levi, I left you and lover boy alone. I didn’t want to intrude on your special moment. So now you have to tell me what happened.” 

Levi sighed in annoyance. “I don’t have to tell you anything.” He started to walk away.

“But Levi,” Hanji whined, grabbing his arm. “You only asked him out because I made you.”

“I was going to do it eventually anyways,” Levi lied. No, he wasn’t the type of person that put themselves out like that. Besides, he had had no idea that the attraction was mutual.

Hanji snorted. “Liar. I’ve known you since high school, Levi. I’m immune to your bullshit. Clinically tested.”

“Fine!” Levi exclaimed. “I’ll tell you!”

“Oooh, start with how you asked him out. I’m dying to hear that one.”

“Well, he’s an actor, right? So he’s working for Klondike®, and he and these two other guys, a cameraman and a sound guy, are out asking people what they would do for a Klondike® bar. Because that’s the tagline, right? And so Eren waltzes right up to me and asks what I would do for a Klondike® bar. And I say ‘you’, because there’s no way that wasn’t going to turn into an innuendo. Then I gave him my number and name. And he called me later, and I asked him out. That’s pretty much it.”

Hanji stared at him. Then she broke into a cackle. “Oh my God, Levi! Of course you made it into an innuendo! I bet that kid turned as red as a tomato, holy shit!”

Levi rolled his eyes at her mirth and continued his story after her laughter had died down. “And for the date we went to Chipotle. One of his friends works there, so that was good. We ate in the park, and then we pretty much just hung out and talked for a while.”

“So no kissing?” Hanji looked at him expectantly.

“… We kissed on the cheek.”

Hanji exploded. “That is so cute! Oh my god!” She laughed for a bit, then settled back down and looked at him seriously. “This one’s a keeper, Levi.”

He sighed. “I know.”

* * *

“Hey, Levi.” Erwin’s voice was tinny through the phone. 

“What is it, Erwin?” Erwin only called him when there was something going on with the campaign.

“I think you should go door to door tomorrow. After all, the election day’s getting closer, and most people haven’t even seen you in person. After all, you don’t really give any speeches unless you have to. I’ve printed off some fliers and brochures you can give out. Pick them up from our building before you go. I expect you to be out there at eleven o’ clock on the dot. And don’t’ forget, you have that interview coming up that you need to practice for.”

Levi sighed. “Ugh. What would I do without you, Erwin?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Campaigning is hard. Levi definitely deserves a break to visit his boyfriend(?), right?

Levi sighed and leaned against the wall. In two of the houses he’d already visited the people had wanted to have long discussions with him. Mostly about politics and what reforms he would make. Damn you, Erwin, for making me do this boring shit, he thought. He’d left the office, pamphlets and brochures in hand, when it was 10 am. It was now 12 o’clock. 

He stood in the lobby of a tall apartment building. The first three apartments he had visited had been empty, but in the last two he’d talked to people. Luckily they were the kind that just nodded along during his speech so he didn’t have to stand around talking to them for a whole fucking hour. 

He stood up straight, leaning away from the wall. He could do this. Only five more, and then he could go eat something. 

He knocked on the door nearest to him. Three seconds passed. He knocked again, straightening his tie. (Not that it was out of place. It never was. It was just good to check. Just in case.) 

The door burst open, revealing a young blond man desperately trying to pull a t-shirt over his head. Besides that he was only wearing a pair of boxers.

“Sorry!” the kid squeaked through the fabric, still wrestling with it. He finally managed to pull it over his head. They stared at each other in awkward silence.

“Hey,” Levi said, leaning forward. He narrowed his eyes. “Do I know you?” 

The brat had already turned away. “Hey, Eren!” he yelled over his shoulder. “Levi’s here!”

Ah. That was where he recognized him from. He was Eren’s friend who worked at the Chipotle. Ar-something?

There was a loud crashing noise, and Levi stared in alarm over Armin’s shoulder. 

“That idiot,” Armin muttered under his breath. He turned back to Levi. “Sorry, I’m just going to go help him…”

Levi nodded, a faint smile on his face. Eren was such a dork. 

It was so strange that out of all the doors he could of knocked on, he’d knocked on Eren’s. It was a small world, he guessed. 

“Hey, Levi!” Eren exclaimed, having finally gotten to the door with blond kid’s assistant. “This is Armin, I think I introduced you guys last time.”

Levi nodded. Armin. He’d have to remember that to avoid any awkward situations. 

“So what are you doing here?” Levi almost blushed as he noticed that Eren was only wearing boxers under his black Queen t-shirt. Almost. 

“I was going door to door, giving out flyers.” He held up the papers with pictures of his face printed on them. “Only two weeks till election week. I’ve been collecting signatures since 10 am.”

“Oh, really?” Armin asked, leaning against the door. “You must be tired. Come in.” He stood aside. 

Levi walked inside. His mouth dropped open. The room was a dump. Piles of trash were everywhere on the floor. The carpet was stained, and newspapers were stacked haphazardly on top of the coffee table.

“Sorry for the mess,” Eren muttered, scratching his head. 

Levi just stared at him. “Eren, this isn’t a mess. This-this is a pig sty.”

“Hey! It’s not that bad!” 

“Yes it is. We’re cleaning. Right now.”

“But-“

“No excuses.”

Eren sighed. “Fine.”

Levi noticed Armin scooching away. “You too, kid.”

Armin slumped in defeat. “Well, I guess it’s my house too,” he sighed. 

Levi wasn’t surprised they shared an apartment. Acting wasn’t exactly a high income job. 

“So how many signatures do you need?” Eren asked as they cleaned. They had started in the main room, picking trash off the floor. God, this place was filthy. 

“I need ten thousand to be on the ballot. Virginia state law. I’ve already gotten a little over 8 thousand signatures in the past two months that I’ve been campaigning, but I need two thousand more in the next two weeks.”

Armin made a sympathetic noise from where he was wiping down the coffee table. 

“Wow, we shouldn’t be holding you up like this,” Eren exclaimed. “You should be collecting signatures instead of cleaning.”

“Shut up, brat.” Levi sighed, swiping a hand across his forehead. “That may be true, but you’re not getting out of this. Besides, I needed a break.” 

“Damn, you foiled my plan!” 

Armin laughed. “Eren, that was like the most see-through plan you’ve ever made. And that’s saying something.”

Eren pouted. “Armin, you’re so mean. Levi, protect me!” He clung to Levi.

He just gave the boy an unamused glance. “Back to cleaning.”

The brats moaned in unison. 

They made small talk as they cleaned. 

“Hey, Eren, how’s your Klondike® job going?” Levi asked. He was genuinely curious.

Eren shrugged. “Pretty well. Marco-he’s the camera man-finished editing the film yesterday. Now we’re just waiting for Connie-the sound guy-to approve it.” He snorted. “Knowing Connie, he’ll just give it the thumbs up without even looking at it.”

“How’re the guys you work with?”

Eren paused in his sweeping, leaning on the broom handle as he thought. “They’re good. Marco’s nice.” He made a face. “But he somehow has a crush on Jean Kirschtein, of all people. Connie’s silly, which makes him fun to work with. He’s good at buckling down when he needs to, though. I haven’t worked with them long enough to say anything else.” He stopped. “You know, Connie would be a good match with Sasha. Maybe I’ll set them up on a date…”

“That sounds nice,” Levi said. 

Armin cleared his throat. “I think we’re done here. Do you want me to make lunch?”

Levi looked around the room and nodded his satisfaction. “Yeah, if that’s not too much. It’ll need to be quick, though.”

Armin nodded. “Understood.”

“Wait,” Eren said, visibly alarmed. “Let me cook. We don’t want a repeat of the last time you tried to make lunch.”

Armin blushed. “Shut up. It wasn’t that bad.”

Eren just snorted. “The neighbors called the fire department, Armin. I would say that was pretty bad.”

“Fine,” Armin huffed. “You can cook.”

Eren lit up at the victory. 

Levi followed him into the kitchen. He felt left out after the conversation between the two friends. Eren and Armin had obviously known each other for a long time. It had been isolating hearing them make inside jokes where he was right there.

Levi had always hated feeling jealous. It was such a petty emotion, and he never knew how to handle it. Usually he would just avoid the person he felt it for. That only worked to a certain extent, though. He’d never had the people skills or the investment to make more of an effort.

But that wouldn’t be good enough this time. Levi wanted to try this time. Armin was Eren’s best friend. He seemed like a nice enough person. Levi wanted dating Eren to last for more than the handful of relationships he’d had before. That couldn’t happen if Levi couldn’t get along with his best friend. 

Eren seemed to pick up on his pensive mood as he started cutting the carrots. “You feeling okay?” 

Levi nodded, trying not to blush at how cute it was that Eren was wearing an apron. A fucking apron, for God’s sakes. “Yeah, just a little tired. Erwin-the guy in charge of my campaign-has been pushing me hard the last few days.”

Eren nodded sympathetically. “Hey, could you prepare some snap peas for me? They’re in the fridge.”

Levi nodded, reaching around Eren as the younger man started some water for the rice. “What are we making?”

“Stir fry.”

Levi washed the peas, admiring Eren’s hands as he sliced meat to fry. He could faintly hear the blare of the TV from the other room. Eren had banned Armin from the kitchen, so the blond had resorted to watching South Park in the living room. (Which was now much cleaner after their pains.)

“Hey, what does Armin do?” Levi asked, now drying the peas with a paper towel.

“He’s getting his graduate’s degree in Marine Biology. Now he works as a lab assistant part time while he’s getting his degree to bring in some extra money.”

Levi nodded. “It’s surprising that you guys, with your jobs and Armin paying for grad school, can afford this nice of an apartment.” He had moved on to stripping the peas of those annoying strings that always get stuck in your teeth. 

Eren shrugged. “The landlady knows us, so we get a discount. Also, Klondike® pays well. Way above the minimum wage jobs I usually get.”

“Do that many jobs really only pay minimum wage?” Levi was sincerely curious. His dad had been a politician as well, so he’d come from a privileged family. The least-paying job he’d ever had had been babysitting as a teen. And that had been ten dollars an hour.

Eren gave a bitter lap. “Yep. The people in charge of the companies are privileged bastards who’ve never had to live off of minimum wage. And yet somehow they say that people should be able to. Armin and I aren’t that bad off now, but when I was a kid we both had to use food stamps. Trust me, living off minimum wage is harder than it looks on TV.”

Levi frowned. He’d known kids that had used food stamps when he had been in public school, but no one had ever talked about it. “That sucks.” 

“Yeah, understatement of the year.” Eren set down the knife, sighing. His grip had tightened around it while he’d been talking. He forced a smile. “Sorry for making you listen to that.” 

Levi shook his head. “No, I’m glad you felt that you could talk to me about that. Besides, I’m going to be a politician. Minimum wage is one of those things I’m going to need to address. Nearly everyone in Congress-including me-is coming from a privileged background. We don’t know what it’s like to have to live off of minimum wage or use food stamps. It’s important to get input who have had to do that.”

Eren nodded. He started at the beep of a timer. “Holy shit, the rice!” He quickly pulled turned the gas off and set the pot to the side. He stirred the chicken, which had now begun to brown up, and dumped the peas and carrots in. “Get the teriyaki sauce, would you?” He shot Levi a preoccupied smile. 

Levi hurried over to the pantry. He quickly found the sauce and brought it back to Eren, who dumped a healthy helping into the stir fry. After a few minutes of stirring the ingredients together in silence he dumped some rice and stir-fry onto three plates. He handed a plate to Levi, taking the other two into the living room. They ate on the couch to South Park reruns. 

As Levi talked and smiled on the couch with Eren and his friend, he thought maybe he could get used to this. 

* * *

Hanji sat down, looking expectantly at Erwin. “Why’d you call me here?”

Erwin shrugged. “I’m just a little worried about Levi. Election day’s getting closer. He’s probably under a lot of pressure right now.”

Hanji thought for a second. “Levi’s not the kind of person who would get really worried over something like that. He’d probably make some metaphor about shitting and say that he can’t control what’ll happen.”

Erwin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but surely he’s a little nervous.”

“What makes you say that? Has he been acting nervous?”

“No… He’s just been sort of… staring off into space with this weird smile on his face a lot. It’s creeping his team out. I was thinking maybe it was some kind of nervous tick…?”

Hanji snorted with barely controlled laughter. “Oh my God! Wow, I knew he liked the kid, but I never thought-!” She shook her head, still smiling. “No, Erwin. I don’t think that’s nerves. He’s just got a boyfriend. From what you say he’s completely head over heels.”

Erwin laughed softly. “Well good for him. I just hope he doesn’t get hurt. That would not be good this close to election day.”

“No.” Hanji shook her head. “That wouldn’t be good at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha, I can't write slow build. *sobs*. Also, please please tell me if there are any inaccuracies in this chapter! I don't know a ton about politics, so if I did anything wrong, please leave a comment. I also only have a vague idea of what it's like living on minimum wage from social justice posts on tumblr, so please correct me if I said anything offensive or inaccurate! Also, I changed my tumblr url, so now it's just-another-mundane. Please leave a comment if you like this chapter or have constructive criticism!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sister and the boyfriend meet. Hanji is still enthusiastic.

The bell chimed as Eren and Levi stepped into the coffee shop.

Mikasa looked up from where she was making cappuccinos. “Hey, Eren.” She completely ignored Levi. 

Eren fidgeted, giving her a weak wave. “Hey, Mikasa. Umm… this is Levi.” Levi waved dispassionately. 

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. “Hold on, I’m going on my lunch break,” she said to Sasha. Sasha nodded, quickly stepping in to take her place at the register. Mikasa quickly finished the cappuccinos and gave them to their customers before hanging up her apron. She grabbed her coat and followed them out into the street. 

“So… Maria Café?” Eren suggested, trying to ignore the awkwardness between his sister and boyfriend. It had been a week since he and Levi had started dating, and already they’d been on three dates. They’d agreed after the third that they were, indeed, boyfriends. 

Levi and Mikasa both shrugged. Privately Eren wondered if they were more similar than he had thought. The both of them didn’t talk much, and when they did it was usually in the form of some sort of threat. 

They turned into the bright café. “Hello, Eren!” A petite blond waved at them. 

Eren smiled. “Hello Christa!” Mikasa offered a nod of acknowledgment to her. 

They sat at a table near the window. After a few moments of awkward silence during which they all pretended to scrutinize the menu a brunette with a splash of freckles across her nose showed up. 

“Who are your friends, idiot?” She cocked her hip, balancing the order pad on her thigh. 

Eren snorted. “You act as if I never have any friends, Ymir.” He gestured to Levi. “This is Levi, my boyfriend.” Levi nodded at her. “And this is my sister, Mikasa.” 

Ymir nodded. “Oh yeah, you’ve mentioned them. Anyways, can I take your orders?”

Eren felt relieved when she didn’t comment on the fact that Eren had a boyfriend. She never would have made a homophobic comment, considering she was dating Christa, but he was tired of people being surprised that he was in a relationship. Come on, he wasn’t that undesirable. After all, he’d landed with Levi, of all people. “Um, I’ll have the garden salad.” Eren didn’t even need to look at the menu. He’d been here a ton of times while waiting for Mikasa to get off her shift. He’d gone with Armin sometimes, too. Now he was friends with most of the wait staff, including Ymir and Christa. Ymir could be a dick sometimes, but she was pretty okay. Sort of like the Freckled Satan to Marco’s Freckled Jesus. 

Mikasa ordered a Panini, and Levi ordered a tuna fish sandwich. 

Eren made a face at Levi’s choice. “Ew, a tuna fish sandwich? Gross, Levi.”

Levi gave him a look. “We don’t all have dead taste buds like you, brat.”

“Hey, only I’m allowed to insult my brother,” Mikasa said, shooting Levi a glare. 

Levi just shrugged. “It’s an affectionate term.”

There was a silence before Mikasa spoke again. “Well, tell me about your political career. I heard you’re running for Senate.”

Levi nodded. “Yeah, the primaries for that were this summer, and the final election is November 2nd. Before I ran for Senate, I worked at a think tank in Richmond. That was quite the commute.” He winced at the memory of four hours in traffic round trip. And he’d always gone at rush hour, too. 

“You’re not a Republican, right?” Mikasa asked, leaning forward. 

“I’m a Democrat,” Levi answered smoothly. 

Mikasa nodded. “Good. I would never let my brother date a Republican.”

Levi gave her a look. “Not all Republicans are conservative tea party freaks, you know. I know some that are actually pretty nice.”

She just shrugged. “Whatever.”

Ymir arrived with their food. “Here you go.” She set the plates by their respective owners. “Hope you enjoy the food.” Her voice was dull and unenthusiastic, per usual.

“Thanks,” they said in chorus. 

Eren made a face as Levi took a huge bite of his sandwich. “How can you eat that shit? Tuna salad is so gross, ugh.”

Levi just shrugged, swallowing the food. “We’ve all got different tastes.”

Mikasa gave a grunt of approval, taking a bite of her Panini. “The food is tasty.”

Eren nodded, forking salad into his mouth.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Levi spoke again. “So what do you do, Mikasa?” Eren grimaced. It was like he was intentionally mispronouncing Mikasa’s name. Probably to get back at her for being so… stoic. Not that he was one to talk.

“Right now I’m working at the coffee shop near here, obviously. I’m a year younger than Eren, so I’m 24. I’ve been out of college for two years, but so far I haven’t been able to secure a job steadier than waiting tables or working as a barista.”

“What was your major?” Levi asked curiously. 

“Journalism.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I haven’t been able to find a newspaper that will accept a rookie with no former experience. The job market’s so shitty right now.”

Levi nodded. “Yeah. Hopefully when I’m senator I can help fix that.”

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. “You talk about it like you getting the office is set in stone. Just in case you haven’t noticed, you’ve still got an election to determine that. The other competitors look pretty good, too. I’m pretty much required to know about this stuff as a journalist,” she tacked on, noticing Levi’s questioning glance. 

“So you definitely didn’t research who my opponents were to learn more about me since I’m dating your brother?” Levi asked, leaning forward.

“Nope.” She leaned forward as well, until their noses were almost touching. “I don’t like the fact that you’re implying I’m overprotective of my brother, midget.”

Levi’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “Midget? Just in case you weren’t aware, that’s a pretty derogatory term nowadays. Wow, I didn’t think journalists were so offensive.”

Before Mikasa could bite out a reply Eren intervened. “Alright, alright! Come one you guys, just eat your lunch and we’ll go. It’s obvious that you guys don’t like each other.”

Levi and Mikasa both looked down at their laps. It was true that Eren got angry easily, but neither liked to be the cause of that. They continued their meal in ashamed silence. 

Mikasa insisted on paying the bill, since she had called Levi a midget. It was obvious that she wasn’t actually sorry from the way her lips turned up when she said that, but it wasn’t like either of them were complaining. Free food was always nice. 

They had all gone their separate ways when Eren received the text.

He receives the seal of approval.

Eren smiled at Mikasa’s text. Maybe that lunch hadn’t been as much of a waste of time as he had thought. 

* * *

Eren was almost tackled as he was helping Marco pack up his stuff. Connie had approved the video and they’d sent it to Klondike®, but the company was asking for more footage. Preferably, they’d said, showing more diversity. They hadn’t wanted to be pegged as racist or any of those other –ists. 

They’d managed to get more footage over the last two hours, focusing more on people in minorities than last time. Now Marco had the arduous job of slogging through and deciding which clips would make the cut. 

Eren squeaked as the woman threw her arms around him. “Eren!” she exclaimed. 

Eren turned to look at her warily. “Hanji?” He really hoped he had gotten her name right.

She beamed. “The one and only!” She watched him as he continued to help Marco. “Okay, so Erwin, the guy in charge of Levi’s campaign, told me to tell you that you should come to the pool with us!”

Eren stared at her. “Who’ll be there?” he asked carefully. He already felt tired, and she’d barely said three sentences.

“Oh, me, Erwin, some other people working on Levi’s campaign,” she said easily. 

“So will Levi come?” he couldn’t keep the hope out of his voice. Now that the opportunity had been presented, he was practically salivating over the thought of Levi in a bathing suit. Even under his business suit Eren could tell he was extremely built. Shirtless… Eren was breathless just thinking about it.

Hanji shook her head. “Nah. He’s got work to do then. So I was thinking maybe three o’clock tomorrow? The pool is heated, so it’ll be nice,” she added. “There’s also a hot tub.” She waggled her eyebrows.

Eren thought about it. It would be nice to meet some of Levi’s friends and colleagues without Levi being there to guide him through. Mikasa was always saying he had to work on his social skills. This would be the perfect opportunity. “Yeah, sure,” he found himself saying. 

Hanji beamed. “Great! See you there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this chapter was going to be longer, but then I decided to split into two chapters. So this one's a little shorter than usual. I hope you enjoy! Please comment. (Also, happy birthday to Eren!)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pool party!

Eren hesitated before knocking on the door. The house he was standing in front of was huge. He couldn’t believe he’d never noticed it before. It wasn’t like they lived in a small county, but surely he would have seen something this imposing.

The door opened to reveal Hanji. She grinned, throwing the door open even wider. She hugged him. “Eren! You came!”

Eren snorted, trying to squirm away from her. “What did you think, I was going to ditch you?” Not like he had anything better to do today. Sure, he was anxious about meeting Levi’s friends without having someone besides Hanji to guide him through. But come on, it was a pool party. With a heated, fancy-ass pool. And had he mentioned the hot tub? Because he was definitely looking forward to that. 

Holy shit, he was starting to sound like Levi.

She just shrugged, letting go of him. “You never know.” She perked up. Well, she was always perky. So it was more like her perky levels just rose. “Oh, you know I never got your phone number! Let’s exchange numbers.”

Eren nodded, taking out his phone. His old, battered flip phone that he knew Hanji was going to mention because not a single person except for Levi hadn’t. 

Hanji looked at him in disappointment, her eyes flitting from the phone to him. “Really, Eren? You’re young. 25, for God’s sakes! You should have something better than a flip phone. God, you’re almost as bad as Levi.”

Eren smiled. “I never saw the advantage of getting a fancy smart phone when the most I would ever use it for is just calling and texting. Possibly also playing Flappy Bird. Besides, in my opinion, the money people spend on an iPhone could be put to much better use.”

Hanji seemed to consider this. “Yeah, that still doesn’t explain why Levi won’t get one, though. He’s such a stick in the mud. He needs to get in touch with modern technology. Doesn’t he understand that it makes mobile planning so much easier when we can plan right there on our little devices?” She paused in her rant, looking back towards Eren. “You know what, you should totally convince him. Definitely. He would so get one if you told him to!”

Eren shrugged uncomfortably. “Um, can we go inside now? I’m kinda cold.” It was mid-October, after all. The wind chill alone was freezing his ass. 

“Oh, of course!” She adjusted her glasses and let him inside. 

People were talking in inside voices (as his elementary school teachers would say), holding glasses of what was undoubtedly expensive wine. There weren’t as many people as he’d thought there would be. Maybe ten in all. Appetizers and cheese and cracker plates lay on the island in the kitchen. 

Hanji must have noticed his discomfort, since she almost immediately started talking to him again. She babbled about the craziest things, Eren only half-listening as he marveled at the taste of these $50 cheeses. The crackers weren’t shabby either. Eventually she excused herself from the one-sided conversation to go get wine for them. 

He relaxed, leaning against the island. He hoped no one would try to talk to him. Honestly, while he had come to meet new people, he had been hoping to get more relaxation (and pool time) out of this. They hadn’t even changed into their bathing suits yet.

A blond man approached him, smiling like the expression never left his face. His hair was impossibly neat. He was handsome, alright. Not quite Eren’s type, though. He was into the shorter guys. You know what people said about short guys. (Let’s pretend he didn’t just say that, shall we?)

The man stuck out his hand. “Hello, I’m Erwin.” His smile was still glued to his face. 

“Oh!” Eren said before he could stop himself. He recognized the name from conversations with Levi. He blushed, hoping he didn’t seem like too much of an idiot. “I’m Eren.”

Erwin’s eyebrows raised. (They were actually pretty substantial. Like, he practically had John L. Lewis eyebrows. Just less old-man-y. They were kind of triangle-shaped, actually.) “Huh. Levi’s talked about you. That is, if you’re the Eren I think you are.”

“Um, yeah. I’m pretty sure I am that Eren. And Levi’s talked a lot about you, too.”

“Probably not as much as he talks about you.”

There was an awkward silence. Eren really wished Hanji was back. He could use a drink right now. 

Erwin chuckled. “Well, you are cute. I’ll have to give Levi credit for that.”

Eren made a choking noise, flushing. Why did everybody have to be so   
embarrassing? “You’re worse than Hanji,” he grumbled. 

Erwin shrugged, his perpetual smile still dancing on his lips. “Eh, I think I give better head.”

Eren swallowed his air the wrong way. He coughed explosively, his face bright red from the comment. “Oh my God,” he gasped when he recovered. “How can you just- you know what, I’m not even going to ask.”

Hanji chose that moment to come back. “That’s what she said.” She and Erwin high-fived. 

Eren groaned. “You’re terrible. You’re both awful people. Besides, that joke doesn’t even work in this context.”

She ignored his last comment. “You say that now,” Hanji said. “But wait until you try this wine I got you.”

Eren grudgingly accepted the wine, because, come on, who refused free wine? Even if the person who gave it to you had been tormenting you seconds earlier. 

“Just wait until Levi starts making shit jokes,” Erwin said solemnly. “That’s when you know you’re in it for the long haul.”

“Oh yeah!” Hanji exclaimed. “Remember when you were taking forever in the bathroom, and he was like, ‘it’s like he’s trying to take a shit, and the shit won’t come out’.” They both cackled raucously, even though in Eren’s opinion the joke wasn’t that funny. “Alright, Erwin, let’s open the pool now.”

Erwin nodded. 

“Hey, where’s the bathroom?” Eren asked. He shouldered his pack. “I need to get changed.”

“Oh, I’ll show you,” Erwin said. He led him over to a side hallway. “Just go down here. It should be the second door on the right.”

“Thanks. Who’s house is this, anyways? I’ve been wondering.”

“It’s mine. Oh,” Erwin said, stopping him. “There’s also something I’d like to tell you.” Eren looked at him questioningly. “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. I’d just like to say-I think Levi seems happier, now that he’s dating you. I know you guys haven’t been dating long, but-“ Erwin took a deep breath. “Anyways, what I meant to say was, I’m happy for you guys. I’m glad Levi’s happy, and it seems like you’re happy too. Just-don’t break his heart, okay? He doesn’t deserve that.”

Eren just stared at him. He’d known he was probably going to get a stern talk from one of Levi’s friends at some point, but he definitely hadn’t expected it from this man who’d been making filthy jokes a minute earlier. “Uh… okay. I won’t.”

The smile was back on Erwin’s face. “That’s good. I was just making sure. You don’t seem like the kind of guy that would do that on purpose, but you never know with people these days.”

Eren nodded uncertainly. “Right… I’m just gonna…” He motioned in the direction in the bathroom. 

“Ah, yes! Well, I’ll leave you to that then.” Erwin left hurriedly. 

Eren let out a sigh once he got to the bathroom. Mikasa had always been the one intimidating his boyfriends. There had only been one time before when he’d been threatened over a relationship. (It had involved a priest, a shotgun, and Jean Kirschtein. Let’s just say it hadn’t been pretty.) Most people seemed to think he was a nice guy, thankfully. Still, he was glad that Levi had friends that were looking out for him. 

He hummed as he changed into his bathing suit. It was the kind that had those stereotypical Hawaiian flowers all over it. It was a washed out red, almost pink now. He should probably have gotten a new one, considering he’d had this one for almost two years, but hey. It still functioned, didn’t it? It wasn’t that bad. 

He stepped out of the bathroom, walking back to the main part of the house where all the people were. He caught Hanji’s eye as he stepped back into the kitchen area. She had stood up on a chair and was speaking to everybody. 

“-alright, so this is going to be the last party before we close the pool for this year. Now go!”

People practically sprinted to the poolside. You could see the pool from the glass sliding doors that led to the back yard. The light hit it, making it shimmer in the sun. It looked nice. 

He walked outside with the rest of them, exchanging greetings with some of the people. There were four or so people that called themselves Levi’s squad. They were his close campaign team. They were only second to Erwin in Hanji in importance. They had a pretty weird name, but whatever. There was also this weird dude named Mike who sniffed his arm. Hanji just assured him that he did that for everybody. 

“Cannonball!” he yelled, jumping in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe Erwin said that either, Eren. Anyways, that was a sort of weird chapter. I just wanted everybody to meet. Hanji and Erwin are my ultimate brotp. And I feel like Erwin would be the kind of guy that always makes dirty jokes. I hope you enjoyed, and please comment!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are gross. Interviews are invasive. They both just want to sleep.

Levi hated interviews. Any of his friends would have agreed; Levi was not a people person. Hanji was pretty good at helping him avoid them, and it was nice to know that he had chosen his PR people well. She was a master of strategy. (Only Erwin was better. That man was a fucking genius. To be honest, he sometimes scared Levi.)  
But sometimes they were inevitable. This, unfortunately, was one of those times.  
It was actually surprising he had gone so long without an interview request. He guessed the stations had learned after his last botched interview. That certainly hadn’t gone well. (He wasn’t going to go into specifics, but let’s just say that the interviewer was being a little too obnoxious with his kitchen jokes. Not that women in the kitchen jokes were ever not obnoxious.)  
That memorable experience made today’s impending interview even more cringe-worthy to think about. Levi was already nervous (not that he would admit it) about the fact that tomorrow was the date of the election. He’d somehow managed to conveniently forget about it between making out with Eren and scrambling to get to meetings, but now actually thinking about it was unavoidable.  
He stepped into the Fox News building, letting out an audible sigh. At least Hanji was meeting him here soon. She could coach him through what to say. How to appear more sociable.  
Personally, Levi thought behaving like someone you weren’t was the most dumbass thing he’d ever heard of. If people didn’t like you, well, screw them. He wouldn’t let that get to him. But politics were different. He’d learned that a long time ago. The elections were a huge popularity contest, like they were back in seventh grade. The only difference was that you couldn’t give the voters popsicles to win over their favor.  
The elevator creaked as it lifted him up to the third floor. It had garish flowery wallpaper, some of it beginning to peel at the edges. Muzak played quietly from hidden speakers. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of mildew. Fox needed to take better care of their elevators, or there was no way he was letting Hanji drag him back.  
The doors opened with a chime, and he stepped out into the hallway. Luckily the rest of the building was more modern than their elderly elevator system. On either side of the hall were doors leading to what Levi presumed were offices and film studios.  
He pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. He squinted to read the words Hanji had scrawled on it without his glasses. (Yes, he was near sighted. Shut up.) Studio 8.  
He scanned the plaques next to the doors. Ah, yes. Here we go. He stepped up and opened the door to the room marked with a number eight.  
Inside was the almost cloying smell of make up. Windows stretched along one of the walls, sunlight streaming in. People ran around like ants, dabbing make up on and going over their lines one last time.  
Hanji walked up to him, a grin on her face. “Long time no see, Levi.”  
Levi just stared at her. “I saw your ass yesterday.”  
Hanji just laughed and spun him around, walking him over to one of the tall chairs in front of a mirror. She sat him down and one of the ladies dabbed make up on him as Hanji continued to talk his ear off.  
She gave him notes to look at before the interview started, then walked off to talk to the interviewer. He was a tall man with an atrocious haircut and what seemed a permanent sneer printed on his face. Levi hoped she was telling him not to ask invasive questions. Those were even worse than the politically charged ones.  
Finally things seemed to slow down, and Levi was led to a seat across from the interviewer, who introduced himself as Nile Dawk as the camera and sound crews finished getting ready.  
The camera man started counting down. “Five… four… three… two… one… action!”  
Graphics flickered across the base of Nile’s desk. “Hello America, I’m Nile Dawk!” As if all of America was listening in. This station was pretty local viewing. “Welcome! Today we’ll be talking to one of the Congress hopefuls, Levi Rivaille.” He took a second to chuckle to himself. “I really hope his policies aren’t as strange as his name, folks!” Cue the laugh track. I swear, if he makes a height joke I’m gonna… “All right, let’s get to the man in question.” Levi assumed the cameras did something before Nile spoke again, this time to Levi. “So, Levi. How was the drive?”  
Levi shrugged. “There was some traffic, but it was okay.”  
Nile nodded vigorously, a fake smile plastered to his features. “Good, good! Now, we won’t start with the heavy questions just yet.” Really? Then this is a complete waste of my time. “We’ll start with some more mundane things. Did you know that #leviishot is a trending tag on twitter? Considering most of the other Congressmen are in their late fifties, you must appear pretty attractive to most young women. And even some men!”  
Levi shrugged. “I’ve been told I’m attractive. I don’t have a twitter, so no, I didn’t know that, but it makes sense.” Levi didn’t care if he was acting a little less than humble. The interviewer was a dumbass.  
Nile lifted an eyebrow. “Someone’s cocky. Alright.” He cleared his throat. “In the same vein, do you have a girlfriend?”  
“I don’t really like to talk about my personal life.” The public didn’t know about Levi’s a little less than straight tendencies, and he intended for it to stay that way. Hanji agreed. There was enough homophobia going around now that it would decrease his chances of winning the office if people knew that he was pansexual.  
“A boyfriend then?”  
“What did I just say?” Levi practically growled.  
Nile just laughed. “Oh, come on, can’t take a joke? Well, anyways. Moving on.”  
They began to get into the more political things. Levi’s views on abortion, same sex marriage, and the budget crisis. The longer the interview went, the more pissed off Levi got. Nile Dawk was among the most annoying people Levi had ever met. He had a completely fake personality.  
Finally the interview ended. The cameraman said ‘cut!’, and Levi was on his merry way.  
He stretched, yawning. God, socializing was draining. Hanji walked over, clapping him on his back.  
“Good job!” she declared, beaming. “It shows you’ve gone a long way that you managed to go without ripping his head off. That one comment you made about Congress’ incompetence probably could have been more subtle, but we’ll work on that later.”  
Levi nodded, spacing. He couldn’t wait to hang out with Eren at his house later. They were planning on marathoning Star Wars (guess what Levi’s guilty pleasure was?) and Eren was going to make dinner. That boy had a way with the kitchen. Levi swore he had some sort of divine gift. Anything he made was heavenly.  
He stepped out of the door, glad to be free of Fox news.  
* * *  
Eren sat on the couch, streaming Sword Art Online. He barely even paid attention to what the characters were saying, preferring to sink into the couch with a low groan. He was tired from trekking around town to rack up more interviews, yes. But there was something else.  
Excitement coiled in his stomach as he remembered: tomorrow was election day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to Jean Kirschtein! Anyways, we're finally approaching the climax! Find me on tumblr (just-another-mundane) and please comment!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Results are in. And the winner of the election is-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Anyways, this chapter has much more plot than the last one. It's the end of the first arc.

Election day. Those two words were the bane of politicians everywhere. At least, that was how Levi had explained it to Eren. Now Eren finally understood what he’d been trying to say. There was a thrumming anticipation and excitement under his skin. 

Levi’s apartment was filled with people. There was Levi’s squad, Mike, Erwin and Hanji. That was to be expected. But Armin and Mikasa had also tagged along. At least Armin actually had a genuine interest in politics. With Mikasa it was more likely that she had heard that Eren was going to Levi’s apartment and worried that the two were going to do the hanky panky. (Oh my god, had he actually just thought that? What kind of gay man was he? ‘Hanky panky’?) 

They were scattered all over the living room. Levi and Eren were cuddling on one side of the couch, while Mike, Erwin, and Hanji took up the rest. The rest of the people were sitting on the floor or had dragged chairs in from the kitchen. 

They had all voted already. At two in the afternoon Levi had texted him to come over, and that he could bring Armin and Mikasa as well. Now here they were, watching the news play on Levi’s flatscreen TV. 

Eren idly grabbed a handful of chips from the bowl cradled on Hanji’s lap, ignoring the glare Levi gave him when he dropped crumbs on the couch. 

Armin and Mikasa had been overwhelmed when they’d met Hanji, but they had relaxed now. Meeting the rest of the group had been easy compared to that. (And he could have sworn Armin had blushed when he’d introduced him to Erwin. Well, he supposed they did have matching eyebrows.)

They were wound up. After all, they’d been here since two. And he suspected that Levi’s squad had been here since before that. 

The news wasn’t making things better. Every five minutes they would talk about the betting for who’d win. 

The voting closed at eight. And right now it was five. It would be even longer until the winner was announced. 

“Hey,” Eren interrupted as the commercials switched on. “We don’t need to see the news until the voting stops, right? I think right now watching it is just stressing everyone out.” That was certainly true with Levi. Eren was worried about the circulation in his arm, Levi was holding it so hard. The other members of the group were hardly any better. Except for Mikasa. She still looked impassive. Then again, didn’t she always? “Why don’t we watch cartoon network or something?”

Levi stared at him in disbelief. “I had always suspected that you were actually a twelve year old, but now my suspicions have finally been confirmed.”

Hanji guffawed. “Cradle robber! Seriously, though, I have an even better idea than Cartoon Network.”

Eren gave her a dubious glare. “And what’s that?”

* * *

Eren fucking hated Parks and Rec. Actually, that wasn’t true. He fucking loved Parks and Rec. What he didn’t love, however, was watching it for seven fucking hours.

Levi was playing that weird card game on his computer next to him. What was it called again? Bridge? Yeah, that sounded about right. He’d tried to teach Eren at some point, but it was near impossible. Eren couldn’t wrap his mind around the concept and Levi was a shit teacher. 

Eren looked over to watch as Levi bid. God, his confidence as he did it was so sexy. Levi always bid what, to a beginner, looked insane. He often jumped from 1 to 4 of a suit. And he’d once told Eren a story where he’d bid seven no trump and won. Like, who the fuck can even do that? Eren had only tried playing Bridge once and he knew how hard it was. 

After the bidding was over and Levi was determined to be the dummy (a rare enough occurrence as far as Eren could tell) he clicked on the other tab he had open. Fox news. The first place the result of the votes would be shown. 

Eren redirected his attention to the screen as Leslie Knope and her husband made out-again. As much as he loved the passionate ideals of her character, sometimes it was a bit much. 

He looked over at Levi, his brow furrowed in concentration. The corners of his lips turned up at how cute his boyfriend was. God, it was so amazing to be able to say that. His boyfriend. He leaned down and brushed his lips against Levi’s temple. Levi looked up at him, only slightly annoyed by the PDA. Eren just smiled. “I know how tense you are, sweetheart.”

Levi raised an eyebrow. “Sweetheart?”

Eren blushed as Hanji hissed at them to ‘keep it down!’ God, it wasn’t like they were having sex or something like that. Jesus Christ. 

Still, he had no idea what he’d been thinking when he’d called Levi ‘sweetheart’. Damn it, now Levi probably hated him. Or thought he was clingy, or a dork (in the bad, not endearing way), or-

Levi leaned up and kissed him firmly. “It’s cute.”

Eren almost melted into a puddle. Cute? Had Levi just called something cute? 

Levi must have noticed his shock, because he turned to glare at him as he pulled away. “But if you call me that again in public we might have problems.”

Eren nodded vigorously. 

Levi’s phone began to go off. It vibrated five or six times with new texts. Everybody froze. Slowly, Hanji reached for the clicker and paused the TV. Everyone was staring at Levi as he reached for his phone and flicked it open. 

His eyes quickly scanned the text, his facial expression changing as he read them. Relief spread slowly across his face, quickly followed by ecstasy. Eren had never seen an expression like that on Levi’s face. 

“I won,” he whispered. “I won!” He half rose out of his seat, a huge grin spreading across his face like he was a little boy on Christmas morning. 

Eren practically tackled him to the couch, pressing their lips together. Levi responded eagerly, biting at his lower lip. Hanji made a whistling noise, and they quickly broke apart, both flushed and out of breath. 

Hanji made a face. “Ah, come on, don’t let me break you guys up!” 

Levi just gave her a pointed look and she pouted. 

“Stop embarrassing the kid, Hanji.”

“But it’s so fun!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, Eren, he thought. You really fucked it up this time.

“That’s the last of them.” Eren stretched both hands above his head, yawning. He wiped his face with his shirt, missing the disgusted look Levi gave him. 

They were in the front room of Levi’s new house. Cardboard boxes surrounded them. 

Maybe he should explain a bit. A few weeks after Levi had been elected the man had decided (after multiple commutes into DC) that the drive to the capitol was a little too much. If there was ever an emergency he wouldn’t be able to get there fast enough. So he’d asked Eren and Erwin to search for houses for him (there was no way he would have trusted Hanji with that.) They’d finally found one on Capitol Hill that Levi had liked, and they’d all gone to check it out. It lived up to their standards, and Levi bought it. Eren got a weird feeling in his stomach when he realized that someday it might be his house too. God, that was weird to think about. Not that he wasn’t happy thinking that. He was. Just… thinking ahead into the future had always been the thing that caused the most problems in his old relationships. He should just live in the present, right?

“So,” Eren spoke up. “What do we do now?”

Levi looked around impassively. “You might want to start by answering your phone.”

Eren blinked. He hadn’t even noticed that his phone was going off. He quickly answered it, not even bothering to check the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Eren? This is Thomas Wagner, remember me? We dated in college.”

They had indeed dated. They still stayed in touch and met up occasionally to talk about the old times. Eren was glad they were still friends. “Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot to check my caller ID… What did you want?”

“I hate to ask you, but my rent’s due in two days. I need two hundred dollars before then. I’m really sorry for bothering you, but I didn’t know who else to call.”

Eren grimaced. “No, it’s okay. The Garrison fired you, then?”

“Yeah.” He sounded miserable. “And, look, no hard feelings if you don’t loan me the money. I totally understand.”

“It’s fine, Thomas. I think I have two hundred dollars to spare, but I’ll have to get back to you tomorrow. I’m in DC right now with my boyfriend.”

“Oh!” Thomas’ voice had changed. “Well, I don’t want to bother you guys… Bye!”

“Bye.” Eren hung up and turned to Levi, who was still watching him. 

“Who was it?”

“An ex. Don’t worry, we broke up forever ago. We’re still sort of friends, but totally platonic.” Why was he even mentioning that? Doubtless Levi didn’t care. 

“Well, that’s nice.” Wait, was that… anger in Levi’s voice? Eren raised an eyebrow at his tone of voice but decided not to say anything. It was sort of annoying (yet somehow also endearing) that Levi was jealous, but that was a conversation for another day.

“Seriously, what do we do now?”

“We clean.” Of course. Eren should have expected this. 

He let out a resigned sigh. “Alright. I’ll take the first bedroom, I guess.” 

“Cool, I’ll clean down here.”

They went their separate ways, dusting and cleaning as they went. 

Eren knew immediately once he stepped into the bedroom that he’d made the wrong decision. The room was covered in dust. When they’d gone to visit it before purchasing it had still been filled with the possessions of the previous owner. Now there was nothing in it but dust and cobwebs. Lots of dust and cobwebs.

He sighed and began to clean. He should have known Levi would give him this room. (He was conveniently forgetting the fact that he’d been the one to  
volunteer for this room.) His boyfriend was so gung-ho for cleanliness. This was probably to test Eren. 

Well, Levi was wrong if he thought Eren was going to fail. He was going to turn this into the cleanest fucking room in the universe. 

He set upon it with determination. He cleaned the windows with that spray stuff. He dusted in every corner. He removed the cobwebs from the walls. 

An hour and a half later, the room was the cleanest fucking room he’d ever seen. Except for maybe Levi’s bedroom. That room was like heaven on earth to a cleanly person. 

He stood near the door, a proud yet tired smile on his face. He set his hands on his hips, sweat beading at the edge of his hairline. He looked at the room for a moment before turning to leave. He raced down the stairs. 

“Hey, Levi!” he yelled at the figure cleaning with a bandanna wrapped around his mouth. Levi turned to look at him. “So I finished cleaning the room, can we take a break now? It’s really really clean, and I heard there were some good pizza places around here. Besides, it’s almost lunch time. I’m starving.”

Levi pulled down the bandanna. It was pristine and white and so completely Levi that Eren would have recognized it as his anywhere. “Alright, I’ll go look at it.”

They walked up the stairs. Eren beamed as they got to the room. “See, it’s pristine! Perfect!”

Levi just grunted and pointed at a spot on the wall. “Clean that again.”

“What? But it’s perfect. Come on, Levi, it’s fine.” He frowned.

“No it’s not. See, there’s a stain there,” he pointed, “and there, and there.” 

“No there’s not! Trust me, Levi, I cleaned it perfectly. Let’s just go get lunch.” Levi was beginning to piss Eren off. “Come on, what is this, a test? Why does it matter, anyways? We can clean it more later.”

“Why not clean it now? You’re such a lazy bum.”

Eren’s mouth dropped open. “What the fuck is with you today?” Anger was creeping into his voice. “First you get jealous over someone I dated seven years ago, and now you’re being fucking obsessive over a speck of dirt. It doesn’t even matter! God, Levi, it’s just a little dust! If you didn’t have a stick stuck up your ass we could be eating delicious pizza right now!”

“Is that all you ever think about?” Levi said. Suddenly they were yelling. “Pizza? Fucking food? It’s not even one! Shouldn’t you be more focused on making your boyfriend happy? It’s just a piece of dust, are you so lazy and used to Mikasa doing shit for you that you won’t even take two seconds to clean it off the wall?”

“Why are you bringing Mikasa into this? Are you just jealous because you’ve never let anyone in? Like, what the fuck, Levi?” Eren knew immediately he’d said the wrong thing. He’d gone too far.

There was a loud noise as Levi pinned Eren to the wall. The smaller man was panting. “Well I’m sorry I’ve got fucking social anxiety that I’ve got to worry about.” He abruptly dropped Eren and turned to leave. 

Eren’s eyes widened at the statement. Levi had social anxiety. Shit. He should have known. What was he, an idiot? Armin had anxiety, he should have been able to recognize the signs. Shit shit shit.

He stood there frozen as Levi walked out. He’d fucked up so bad. Who knew if Levi would ever talk to him again, let alone still want to be in a relationship with him? Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. 

They’d been dating for a little over two months. Sure, they’d had fights before. But none on the magnitude of this one. Eren didn’t love Levi yet. After all, he’d only known him for two months. Life wasn’t a fairy tale where people fell in love at first sight. But hell, he liked Levi a whole fucking lot. He hadn’t been in many relationships in his life, but even he knew they had a ton of potential. 

He stepped forward even as Levi disappeared from the room. He bit his lip. Go after him, Jaeger, his mind whispered. 

After a moment of hesitation, he hurried after the raven haired man. “Levi!” he shouted, watching helpless as the man disappeared down the staircase, paying no heed to his shouts. He ran faster. “Levi! I’m sorry!” 

The man froze. Sorry wasn’t a phrase that passed Eren’s lips easily. “I’m sorry that I’m such a dumbass. There’s no excuse for me saying the things that I did. I was still a little pissed at Thomas for calling me, and I took it out on you. I’m an idiot for pushing away the person that means the most to me. Levi, I really like you. I want our relationship to last. And I think it can. Just-please? You don’t have to forgive me already. Just-give me another chance.”

Levi sighed and turned around. “Jaeger, neither of us are good at communication. This probably won’t be the last fight like this we have.” Eren bit his lip anxiously. “But-I really like you too. And I’d rather learn how to communicate better than break up with you.”

Eren rushed forward, wrapping his arms around Levi’s waist. He breathed him in, resting his chin on Levi’s shoulder. Those Tumblr fangirls were right, he thought distantly. Height differences really are cute.

Eren sighed happily as Levi tightened his grip around his waist. For the first time in a long while, he felt really content. As if he could take on the entire world, as long as Levi was by his side. 

As he hugged Levi Rivaille, he realized something. He wanted to spend forever with this man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it man this is the end of the road. I really hope you enjoyed this fic! Please leave a comment if you liked it or have constructive criticism. I'm probably going to edit this sometime tomorrow. Anyways, in another vein. There will be two other works in this series. One will be a oneshot for a Jeanmarco first date in this universe and the second will be a series of fluffy domestic Ereri oneshots that take place after this. I also have a lot of other fics not in this universe that I have ideas for, so watch out for those! Lucy out.


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